Refuse collecting vehicles have been around for numerous years. They have been powered by gasoline, diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG) fuels. With the uncertainty and rising costs of gasoline and diesel, as well as the stabilization in manufacturing CNG, it is becoming more desirable to outfit refuse collection vehicles with CNG to run internal combustion engines. However, due to the size of the refuse collection vehicles, a large storage area is required to retain the CNG tanks.
In refuse vehicles that include CNG tanks, federal regulations require that the tanks must be visually inspected at least monthly. Thus, this necessitates the removable of a panel to enable access to the tanks. One type of system utilizes a single panel door that requires a hoist or lift to remove the door to uncover the CNG tanks. Thus, the type of vehicle necessitates the vehicle to be moved to a garage or the like to enable the door or panel to be removed from the refuse vehicle container. Thus, this limits ready inspection of the CNG tanks.